Mid Atlantic rocket launch set for Tuesday night

Nov 18, 2013 by Seth Borenstein

Much of the U.S. East Coast is expected to get a view of a mid-Atlantic rocket launch Tuesday night, when the Air Force and NASA will try to put 29 tiny satellites into orbit, including a smartphone and a satellite built by students.

The launch of the privately built Minotaur rocket is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET from NASA's Wallops Island, Va., launch site. Weather permitting, it should be possible to see it from Jacksonville to Maine and Montreal and as far west as Detroit and Dayton.

The Orbital Sciences Corporation rocket is launching as an Air Force test program, carrying small satellites. One is an ordinary smartphone NASA converted and another was built by students at Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Va.

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